This invention relates to laundry, apparatus, and in particular laundry apparatus that are loaded and unloaded in a substantially horizontal direction.
Laundry apparatus that is loaded and unloaded in a substantially horizontal direction is often called xe2x80x9cfront loadingxe2x80x9d. Most typically this apparatus is one of or a combination of a washing machine, tumble dryer and/or spin dryer.
Conventional front loading laundry apparatus have a hinged door located on a substantially vertical face of the apparatus. This has the benefit that it allows the apparatus to be placed under a solid surface such as a work top in a kitchen or the like. The problem with front loading apparatus is that use of such a machine requires the user to bend down when loading and unloading the apparatus; the laundry is then either pushed into or pulled out of the apparatus. This combination of bending and pushing/pulling can be painful and difficult for people with back problems, the infirm or the elderly.
In EP-A-0050395 an apparatus for handling laundry is proposed. That apparatus is an industrial sized washing machine which is filled and emptied by way of pneumatically driven drawers which contain the items to be laundered, and which are extended from the casing of the apparatus. Each drawer includes a compartment that is substantially half a cylinder (when cut in a plane passing through the longitudinal axis of the cylinder); the two compartments face each other so as to form a cylinder, the compartments are divided one from the other by internal walls so that two different washes can be performed at the same time. This apparatus allows the vertical loading and unloading of the laundry. The apparatus disclosed in EP-A-0050395 is not, however, suitable for adaptation to a domestic scale, is complicated in construction and operation, and because of its two chamber construction impractical in use as, to balance the drum, both drawers have to be equally loaded. This is not always possible in a domestic situation.
According to the present invention there is provided a laundry apparatus. The laundry apparatus comprises an outer casing with a base, at least one side wall and a top within which are located a receptacle for items to be laundered, a means for agitation of said items, a liquid or fluid retention means at least partially surrounding said receptacle, and control means. In the apparatus, the receptacle is a drum with a curved side wall and first and second end walls, the liquid retention means and a side wall are provided with aligned ports through which an end portion of the drum may reversibly travel between a first withdrawn position and a second extended position, the distance of travel of the end of the drum out of the side wall to the extended position being sufficient to allow access to at least one aperture in the curved side wall of the drum, said aperture is configured and dimensioned to allow insertion and removal of the items to be laundered, and the direction of travel of the drum is substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the drum.
The drum may be substantially cylindrical, or of a substantially frustoconical shape. If the drum is substantially frustoconical, it is preferred that the wider end of the drum travels out of the casing when the drum moves to the extended position.
The advantage of the present invention is that because of its configuration, when the aperture in the drum is in such a position to allow insertion and removal of items to be laundered from the drum, the insertion and removal can be done in a substantially vertical direction. This involves much less bending and twisting for the user than earlier known front loading machines. The apparatus of the present invention is suitable for either domestic or industrial (e.g. with greater loads than encountered domestically) use.
In a particularly preferred embodiment of the present invention, the drum and/or the aligned ports are configured so that the end portion of the drum can only travel through the aligned ports when the drum has a predetermined orientation relative to the outer casing. It is preferred that this feature allows the drum only to be able to pass through the aligned ports when the aperture through the curved side wall of the drum is substantially in the nearest or furthest portion of the drum from the top of the casing (at the highest or lowest part of the drum when the apparatus is positioned for use). This allows either convenient filling of the drum (when the aperture is in the portion of the drum nearest the top of the casing) or convenient emptying of the drum (when the aperture is in the portion of the drum most distant from the top of the casing). This embodiment is particularly beneficial to people with back problems or the elderly and infirm because it requires very much less agility on the part of the user. In particular when the laundry is being emptied from the drum, gravity will perform the majority of the work and require little intervention, if any, from the user.
The liquid retaining means, the drum of the drum actuation means may be provided with indexing means to cause the drum to be correctly orientated to pass through the port at the completion of laundering the items that were to be laundered.
It is preferred that at least one aperture in the drum is provided with reversible aperture closure means, said closure means being actuated by movement of the drum between the withdrawn and extended positions. The closure means preferably causes the aperture to be opened when the drum moves into the extended position, and closed when the drum moves into the withdrawn position.
It is preferred that a portion of at least one of the walls of the drum is adapted to allow the passage of liquid through that portion of the wall. Preferably, that portion of the wall is formed from netting, wire mesh, perforated metal sheet or metal sheet provided with one or more apertures. Most preferably the holes, apertures or perforations through which the liquid may flow are so dimensioned that the items to be laundered cannot fit through said holes, apertures or perforations.
The drum may be formed of walls of one or more layers. The composition of each of the layers may be different.
The ability of liquid so flow into and out of the drum allows for washing or draining of the items to be laundered. When the apparatus is being used for washing the items to be laundered, the liquid retention means holds the liquid that is used for washing said items, with said items being immersed in said liquid whilst within the drum. The drum may be rotated to agitate the items to be laundered. The general construction of laundry apparatus incorporating an inner drum within which the items to be laundered are retained, and a liquid retaining means within which the liquid to wash those items is kept is a standard construction and will not be further described herein. laundered.
It is most preferred that the drum is supported within the liquid retaining means by one or more drum support means. The drum support means preferably allow the drum to move both in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the drum, and to move so as to agitate the items to be laundered. In one embodiment, the or each of said drum support means is preferably a support bar substantially parallel to the central axis of the drum. The or each support bar is preferably engaged with either the curved side wall of the drum or the peripheral edge of the first and second end walls of the drum.
It is particularly preferred that the support bars are either telescopic or engaged with the drum in such a fashion that movement of the drum from its withdrawn to extended position is possible.
Most preferably the support bars are three in number, and located at 120xc2x0 spacing about the periphery of the drum, with this configuration of support bars, the drum is preferably provided with one aperture spaced evenly between two support bars, and the end of the drum may only pass through the aligned ports when the aperture is in the portion of the drum that is vertically upwards when the apparatus is orientated for use.
The drum can be supported in other fashions from that described above. For example, the drum supported by engagement of the first or second end wall of the drum with drum support means.
A further advantage of the present invention is that, unlike currently known front loading machine, the contents of the drum, can be easily viewed by a user. This enables the drum to be efficiently filled and, once the laundry has been done, completely emptied.
The liquid retention means and side wall of the casing are provided with means to close the aligned ports, especially when the apparatus is in use. Said means preferably form a water-tight seal with the edges defining the ports.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention the movement of the end of the drum through the aligned ports occurs simultaneously with the port closure means disengaging from the edges that define the aperture and moving away from the port.
In a most preferred embodiment, the drum and the port closure means are all supported on two or more support bars that are orientated in a direction substantially perpendicular to the face of the casing. In this embodiment, the port closure means retains its orientation relative to the drum when the drum is in the extended position.
In one embodiment of the present invention there is further provided a reversibly extending drip tray that extends beneath the drum and between the casing of the apparatus and the port closure means when the drum is in its extended position. Said drip tray can, when the drum is in its retracted position and the port closure means in a position to closure the port, be stored in a concertina fashion; other storage configurations for the drip tray are also possible.
In an alternative, the port closure means may be hinged to the outer casing of the laundry apparatus. The hinging can be arranged so that the closure means preferably swings around either a vertical axis or around a substantially horizontal axis when the apparatus is installed. Where the port closure means swings around a substantially horizontal axis, the port closure means can, if the hinges are situated at the lower portion of the port (when the apparatus is installed), act as a drip tray.